Brazilian doc festival spreads out

Event taking place in Sao Paulo, Rio

RIO DE JANEIRO — The 13th edition of E Tudo Verdade (That’s All True), Brazil’s leading doc fest, is so big that one town can’t hold it. Neither can two.

The Sao Paulo portion of the fest opened March 26 with Gonzalo Arijon’s Sundance entry “Stranded: I Have Come From a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains,” while the Rio portion opened March 27 with Oscar-nominee Charles Ferguson’s “No End in Sight.”

Fest also takes place in Brasilia, the country’s capital, April 14-20. Three other towns, Recife, Bauru and Caxias do Sul, will host a condensed version of the fest, which features screenings of 137 productions.

“This edition has the largest number of world premieres of local documentaries yet, which can be explained by the fact the local production is increasing,” the fest’s founder and general director Almir Labaki tells Variety. “Filmmakers are increasingly holding their documentaries to launch at our festival.”

Seven of the 17 local docs world-premiering in the fest will compete for the feature-length doc prize of 100,000 reais ($58,000). According to Labaki, this is the largest money prize in Brazil for a pic, including fests dedicated to fiction features.

Vet helmer Eduardo Escorel will compete, with “O Tempo e o Lugar,” a doc centered on Genivaldo, a leader of the landless peasant movement. Andre Siqueira’s and Beto Macedo’s “Joao,” depicts the life of Joao Saldanha, the controversial deceased sports commentator and head coach of the Brazilian national soccer team.

Two other docs in competition are also centered on the lives of public figures no longer living. Carlos Nader’s “Pan-Cinema Permanente” depicts poet Waly Salomao; and “Simonal,” by directors Claudio Manoel, Micael Langer and Calvito Leal, is about Wilson Simonal, a star singer in the 1960s and 1970s.

Carla Gallo’s “O Aborto dos Outros” deals with the abortion issue. Cris Azzi’s “Sumidouro” focuses on the elimination of two hamlets for the construction of a hydroelectric power plant in Minas Gerais State. Julia Murat’s and Leonardo Bittencourt’s “Dia dos Pais” depicts daily life in the Paraiba Valley, Brazil’s big 19th century coffee production center, now a tourist region.